Syrian government forces capture more areas in Aleppo

Residents of the Damascus suburb of Daraya leave the Moadamiyeh area on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. The second phase of an agreement reached by the Syrian government for people to leave Moadamiyeh was implemented Thursday, with nearly 150 people heading to a nearby suburb.(AP Photo)
(The Associated Press)

Residents of the Damascus suburb of Daraya leave the Moadamiyeh area on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. The second phase of an agreement reached by the Syrian government for people to leave Moadamiyeh was implemented Thursday, with nearly 150 people heading to a nearby suburb.(AP Photo)
(The Associated Press)

Residents of the Damascus suburb of Daraya leave the Moadamiyeh area on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. The second phase of an agreement reached by the Syrian government for people to leave the Moadamiyeh was implemented Thursday, with nearly 150 people heading to a nearby suburb.(AP Photo)
(The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – Syrian state media and an activist group are reporting that government forces and their allies have captured new ground on the edge of the contested northern city of Aleppo.

Thursday's push tightens the government's siege imposed on rebel-held parts of the city and endangers talks between Russia and the United States for a possible Aleppo cease-fire. The city, Syria's largest and once its commercial hub, has been the focus of fighting in recent months.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says government forces backed by allied groups, including the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, captured the Ramouseh neighborhood on the southern edge of Aleppo.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as confirming that troops have captured large parts of Ramouseh as well as a nearby hill.